Heart’s Desire by Sorcha MacMurrough

Contemporary Romance, Setting: Modern Ireland

Nurse Sinead Thomas rescues the hospital’s handsome architect Austin Riordan from a life-threatening situation. Touched by the high-powered man’s sudden vulnerability, she agrees to his proposal to become his private nurse over the Christmas holidays while he recovers his full health.

Sinead gets more than she bargained for as she gets drawn inextricably into his web of sensuality. The passionate relationship they forge is like nothing Sinead has never known, and she soon finds herself falling in love with her enigmatic new employer.

But a cunning woman from Austin’s past soon sets herself up as a professional and very personal rival to Sinead at the hospital and in Austin’s life.

Is Austin really all he seems? Or has he been playing her all along to further his own hidden agenda? Can Austin and Sinead fight their inner and outer demons to secure their hearts’ desire?

Heart’s Desire
Setting: Modern Ireland
Rating: Sensual

Click on the link to read the first chapter: Heart’s Desire

Posted March 29, 2008 Comments(0)

The Mad Mistress

A Rakehell Regency Novel

Sorcha MacMurrough

Regency England, 1812

A Desperate Gamble … on Love!

Wealthy heiress Vanessa Hawkesworth is offered as the stake in a card game by her half-brother Gerald in order to cover his gambling debts.

Clifford Stone, their nearest neighbor, only agrees to play for her hand in marriage in order to free her from Gerald’s excesses. Clifford is fascinated by the lovely if unworldly young bluestocking.

As his attraction grows, so too does his certainty that his new-found love is in increasing danger from malevolent forces who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to seize her newly-acquired fortune.

Vanessa must learn to trust a complete stranger with her heart, and her entire life. Stunned at her new fiance’s accusations against Gerald, she is sure she is going mad, torn between loyalty to her family and the wildfire passion that flares every time Clifford touches her.

As new a series of crimes in the district threatens her new-found love and happiness, Vanessa must gamble all herself in order to protect her beloved Clifford, and bring the men responsible to justice before it’s too late.

The Mad Mistress
Book 1, The Rakehell Regency Series
Sorcha MacMurrough
Setting: Regency England, 1812
Word Count: 101,000
Rating: Mildly sensual

Click on the link to read the first chapter: The Mad Mistress

Posted March 28, 2008 Comments(0)

Introduction to The Rakehell Regency Series

Rakehell was the Regency term for a man of daring, who was also a ladies’ man and with a devil-may-care attitude regarding what the rest of Society thought about him.

The Rakehells are a group of school friends from Eton and Oxford, who play fair, but very much by their own rules in a society rapidly changing due to modernization, power politics, and the war.

From many different walks of life, and with all sorts of adventures befalling them, every one of the Rakehells, and their extended family circle, will find true love amid the backdrop of the late Napoleonic Wars, and the end of George III’s reign.

The Rakehell Regency Series is a bit more gritty, and more sensual, than the usual Regency, but also completely historically accurate for the period.

There is some comedy of manners, capturing the life andd concerns of the period, with liberal dashes of suspense and sensuality. It’s what Jane Austen would have written if only she had dared….

The Rakehell Regency series novels are each standalones, powerful, often sensual or even erotic romances, with remarkable characters facing seemingly insurmountable odds. They can be enjoyed singly, or read in order.

The Regency Period, which runs nearly parallel to the Napoleonic Wars, is the beginning of the modern world as we know it. It was a time of revolution and the old world order being torn apart: what a remarkable time to fall in love.

Please click on the links to the left for more information about each novel.

You might also be interested in romances set in the Napoleonic Period.

Posted March 27, 2008 Comments(0)

Introduction to Regency Romances

The Regency Period, which refers to the period from the end of the 18th century (1700s) until 1821 when George III died. During these latter years of his very long reign (63 years!), he was mentally incapable, and so his son became the Regent, and thus the period was deemed the Regency. It also runs nearly parallel to the Napoleonic Wars, and can be deemed to be the beginning of the modern world as we know it. It was a time of revolution, both political and industrial, of war overseas, and against poverty and ignorance at home, and of the old world order being torn apart. What an remarkable time to fall in love.

For many years the Regency Romance was considered the epitome of the romance novel, with dashing rakes, damsels in distress, or sharply intelligent women along the lines of Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The Regency period was by no means endless balls and soirees and the mindless pursuit of marriage. Nor are Regency novels in the 21st century simply the comedies of manners, all fluff and no substance, which caused them to fall into disrepute and even become objects of ridicule for a time.

The hallmark of a good historical novel is that the action should not be able to take place at any period of time other than the one it is set in.

The Regency romances you will find at this site fit those requirements to a tee. Be prepared for real men and women, not clothes horses. For social issues, not simply social teas.

Above all, be prepared for romance, the difficulties of falling in love and being intimate given society’s expectations regarding marriage.

Each novel aims to depict the ebullient and often excessive society of the pre-Victorian days before drabness and prudery became the by-words of that reign, rather than the sumptuousness and sensuality of the Prince Regent and his glittering court.

You might also be interested in romances set in the Napoleonic Period

Posted March 26, 2008 Comments(0)

The Tide of Destiny
Book One of The Druids of Destiny Series
Northern Wales, 1145

Angharad of Meriel seeks to escape from an enforced marriage to a vicious neighboring landlord. Instead of gaining her freedom, she is taken captive by Rhys, the Silver Wolf.

Rhys, a powerful Welsh warrior, is determined to avenge his family and end the rebellion which has broken out against Owain, the prince of Merionedd, led by the prince’s own brother Cadwalader.

Angharad can see that the tide of her destiny has turned, and she must choose sides in the war to come. She determines to live by her sword with Rhys’ rapidly dwindling band of increasingly desperate warriors.

When Cadwalader takes the ultimate gamble and invites Danish mercenaries from Dublin to invade Wales, Angharad and Rhys discover the druidic powers within them that they have always possessed but tried to suppress.

Only their daring to trust to love and their remarkable supernatural abilities can prevent their whole world from being destroyed.

As Cadwalader’s Viking band bring nothing but death and destruction, all Rhys and Angharad have to cling to is their tempestuous love. Will it too prove to be another casualty of war?

The Tide Of Destiny by Shanna Murchison
Word Count: 115,000, 380 8.5 x 11 pages
Setting: Northern Wales, 1145
Rating: Very Sensual

Click on the link to read the first chapter: The Tide of Destiny

Posted March 25, 2008 Comments(0)

HARLEQUIN HEARTS by Evelyn Trimborn

Contemporary Romance, Setting: Modern Ireland

Inexperienced housekeeper Megan gets more than she bargains for when she takes a job at the house of architect Bryan Fitzmaurice in order to support her family. Sparks fly from the moment they meet. Despite getting off on the wrong foot when they first meet, there’s no denying the heated attraction between them, and they grow closer with every passing minute.

Despite their many misunderstanding, Megan’s new life with her handsome, enigmatic employer is everything she could ever have hoped for except for one thing: Bryan is engaged to another.

Megan’s head tells her all the reasons her new boss is out of bounds romantically. Her heart whispers a different story, one that dares dream of a happily ever after. Can she and Bryan ever build a future together, or is her harlequin heart making her a fool for love?

Bryan has never met anyone like Megan, but he’s already engaged to a woman everyone says is perfect for him. Why then does he feel like such a fool for ever having agreed to marry the glamorous Amanda?

Only through Bryan daring to risk all and open his heart and mind to love, to share the gift of joy and laughter with the beautiful woman Fate has presented him with, can he find the courage to live a life of passion instead of mere possession.

Does Bryan dare risk all on his harlequin heart, which whispers to him that it’s not yet too late to find real happiness with his one true love? Or will he try to do the honorable thing and keep his word to Amanda despite all he has learned about her, and let Megan walk out of his life forever?

HARLEQUIN HEARTS

Evelyn Trimborn

Rating: Sensual

Click on the link to read the first chapter: HARLEQUIN HEARTS

Posted March 24, 2008 Comments(0)

The Sea of Love

Sorcha MacMurrough

Wrongfully accused of murder, Aidanna O’Flaherty’s only ally against her evil brother-in-law Donal is the dashing English-bred aristocrat Declan Burke. Saving him from certain death, Aidanna and Declan hide away on her secluded private island, where the passion between them grows until it can no longer be denied.

But the world beyond their magical cove is spinning out of control as the aging King Henry VIII seeks to cling to his power even as death approaches. Declan’s powerful patron The Duke of Norfolk is impatient for his own chance to rule, and involves Declan in a monstrous conspiracy.

Declan soon finds himself in the Tower condemned to death. Aidanna must undertake an epic struggle to not only save Declan, but expose her true enemies if she is ever to save her clan from the ambitious English lords who want to carve up all of Ireland for themselves, and the Continental powers who see the old king dying and want to bring about a new Catholic world order.

Aidanna and Declan must race against time to prevent all they love from being swept aside in a thunderous tide of foreign invasion.

Click on the link to read the first chapter of the novel:

The Sea Of Love

Posted March 22, 2008 Comments(0)

The Wizard Woman
Shanna Murchison
Southern Ireland, 1169

The great Celtic myth of the Wheel of Fate is played out against the first Norman invasion of Ireland. Dairinn is chosen by the gods to be the wife of Senan.
Senan has always hated his ‘gift’ of magical power, and chosen the path of the warrior. With Ireland on the brink of invasion by the English, only his taking Dairinn as his consort and teaching her the ways of the druids can stem the tide of violence.

Through Senan’s love, Dairinn discovers her own innate powers, and the truth behind her family history. As she grows in power, she begins to suspect the awful truth about the sacrifice Senan intends to make to save his country. The passionate connection between them can never be severed, not even in death.
Dairinn has no intention of sacrificing the love she has waited for all her life. Dairinn wages a rebellion of her own against her lover and the druid ways to save Senan and her new-found clan from extinction.
She must bargain with the Morrigan, the goddess of death, if she is ever to achieve happiness with the man she loves. But how high a price will she have to pay for Senan’s life?

Reviews:
Thoroughly fascinating, Four stars
Kathy Boswell, Romantic Times
This thoroughly fascinating Druid fantasy was rich in detail as it told the story of Dairinn and Senan. I found myself reading this book more slowly than I normally read in order to capture every detail. The story opens with Dairinn being betrothed to a Norman in order to try to cultivate peace between her Irish clan and the Normans who have invaded their lands. Little does she know that a stranger has arrived, a Druid, there to fulfill her destiny.
Senan, a Druid Wizard comes to claim Dairinn for his own, but he has no way of knowing how hard a road they both must travel in order to find true love and peace. Dairinn’s heritage is hidden from her for years. When she finds out who and what she is, can she handle it? Can she leave her family behind for a stranger? Can they fight the evil that threatens to overtake their land?
Shanna Murchison created two very strong characters in the hero and heroine. They held onto their love and their beliefs even through the worst adversities, making them a force to be reckoned with.

The Wizard Woman
Shanna Murchison
Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Setting: Ireland, 1169
Word Count=118,000 words
Rating: Quite sensual

Click on the link to read the first chapter or order: The Wizard Woman

Posted March 21, 2008 Comments(0)

Castles in the Air by Evelyn Trimborn

Contemporary Romance, Setting: Modern Ireland

Beautiful but poverty-stricken Irish aristocrat Alanna Lacy is facing foreclosure on her magnificent home Castle Lacy. Powerful and charismatic property developer Bran Ryan offers her a way out of her desperate financial situation: marry him!

Faced with her father’s disapproval, Bran’s spiteful ex-fiancee, and their own insecurities about love and relationships, can Alanna and Bran save Castle Lacy from destruction? Will they be able to build a future together despite their scheming enemies, or will all their dreams become nothing more than fantasy castles in the air?

Click on the link to read the first chapter:

Castles in the Air by Evelyn Trimborn

Posted March 20, 2008 Comments(0)

Here you will find modern romances, from sweet to sensual.

Posted March 19, 2008 Comments(0)